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The Goonies

Following a mysterious treasure map into a spectacular underground realm of twisting passages, outrageous booby-traps and a long-lost pirate ship full of golden dubloons, the kids race to stay one step ahead of a family of bumbling bad guys… and a mild-mannered monster with a face only a mother could love.You may be surprised to discover that the director of the Lethal Weapon movies and scary horror flick The Omen, Richard Donner, also produced and directed this classic children’s adventure (which, by the way, was written by Donner’s screen-wizard friend Steven Spielberg). Then again you may not. The Goonies, like Donner’s other movies, is the same story of good versus evil. It has its share of bad guys (the Fratelli brothers and their villainous mother), reluctant-hero good guys (the Walsh bothers and their gang of friends), and lots of corny one-liners. Like in an old-fashioned Hardy Boys or Nancy Drew plot, the Goonies need to solve a problem: a corrupt corporate developer has bou

Review by E. A Solinas for The GooniesRating:
The first thing I was thinking when “Goonies” really kicked into gear was: This is the daydream of an adventure-loving preadolescent boy, full of pirates, bloodthirsty villains, and exotic twists and turns in an underground maze full of booby traps. It’s sort of “Indiana Jones” for the kids as well as the adults. The Goonies (a band of young boys) are spending their last weekend hanging around their hometown, before it’s razed for yuppie developers. Then Mikey Walsh (Sean Astin) uncovers a treasure map hidden in an old painting, and becomes obsessed with finding the lost treasure of the pirate One-Eyed Willie. With that treasure, they could save their town.But the hunt for treasure sends the Goonies, Mikey’s long-suffering teenage brother (Josh Brolin), and a pair of teenage girls (Kerri Green and Martha Plimpton) into dangerous proximity to the murderous fugitives, the Fratellis. With the Fratellis on their tail, the Goonies are determinedly navigating the underground, booby-trap-infested tunnels that lead to the treasure — or to a very nasty demise.The stolidly mature among you may scoff at the improbability of the story, but who cares? This is obviously a fantasy story, harkening back to pirate treasure and childhood adventures, thwarting the evil guys. The classic formulae are what makes it so fun. “Goonies” is like “Indiana Jones” in the sense that it’s action-filled, with nasty villains, elaborate booby-traps, and a plotline that is wonderfully improbable. This is just fun. The sets are amazingly complex, full of stone tunnels and enormous waterfalls full of money, thin little bridges and a bone piano that causes the floor to collapse. Sean Astin (yes, this is THAT Sean Astin, the guy currently starring as Samwise Gamgee in “Lord of the Rings”) is endearing and very convincing as Mikey, the gutsy boy that could. Josh Brolin is also good as his overbearing but nice brother; the other Goonies include the incredibly funny Corey Feldman as “Mouth” (the scene where he weirds out the cleaning lady is priceless), comic relief Jeff Cohen as “Chunk” who bumbles from one misadventure to another, and Jonathan Ke Quan (who was also in “Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom”) as gadget-obsessed “Data,” a kid riddled all over with homemade inventions that occasionally save the heroes’ behinds.Though this film was made in the 1980s, it’s aged extremely well — now there is affection on top of the original liking for it. It’s a funny, entertaining thrillride with pirates, villains, treasure and a band of quirky heroes. Great fun.